Encspot reporting Lame VBR, not ABR?

[TakuSkan]

Atfer resolving the problems I was having copying ID3 tags as I reported in this post, I've been testing transcoding ~192kbps MP3s to Lame ABR 128kbps files with dbpoweramp. But Encspot has been reporting some pretty funky results. Unlike when I use Razorlame and Bonkenc, Encspot is reporting the 'VBR Method' for files dbpoweramp is transcoding as 'vbr-mtrh'.

That's with dbpoweramp settings of:

Target: Bitrate (ABR)
Average Bit Rate: 128kbps

Using that vbr-mtrh switch results in larger files with bitrates that vary widely from ~90kbps to ~160+kbps. And occasionally Encspot reports a lower quality (yellow instead of green) compared to the same file transcoded with Razorlame and Bonkenc. Occasionally it also incorrectly reports the encoder dbpoweramp is using as 'Gogo (before 3.0)'.

When I transcode with Razorlame and Lame v3.97, I use the --preset 128 switch which results in ABR encoded files with a pretty consistent bitrate of around 115kbps to 125kbps, and the files are considerably smaller with an audio quality that are good enough out of portable players to my ears.

I get the same results with Bonkenc and Lame c3.98.2 set to ABR 128 and quality set to 3.

Razorlame loses the original ID3 tags though. And while Bonkenc preserves all tags pretty well, including album art that's imports for me, it's incredibly slow.

I really like dbpoweramp's use of dual core CPUs to process two files simultaneously and incredibly quickly. But I'm not happy with the files it's producing as I have things set up.

Is there anyway I might be able to duplicate a --preset 128 Lame setting in dbpoweramp?

Thx
TS

[Spoon]

Re: Encspot reporting Lame VBR, not ABR?

If you use the CLI Encoder you can specify anything you wish. Encspot is getting a bit old these days...

[TakuSkan]

Re: Encspot reporting Lame VBR, not ABR?

If you use the CLI Encoder you can specify anything you wish.

Thanks for pointing that out Spoon... I'll see if I can figure it out and give it a try.

Encspot is getting a bit old these days...

Yeah... I've had it for years. But I haven't found much, next to maybe Mr Questionman which doesn't report as much, to replace it.

TS

[TakuSkan]

Re: Encspot reporting Lame VBR, not ABR?

If you use the CLI Encoder you can specify anything you wish.

I got CLI Encoder set up. I don't really know that much about setting up LAME command line switches though. But I managed to splice together this command line from posts I found in dbpoweramp and Hydrogen forums:

[infile] [outfile] --preset 128 --strictly-enforce-ISO --noreplaygain

Does that look to people more informed than I like it will accomplish pretty much the same as the --preset 128 switch I've been using in RazorLame?

If the files to be transcoded don't have replaygain, I guess I could drop that switch. Though I'd think it wouldn't hurt anything to leave it.

I really don't know what --strictly-enforce-ISO is suppost to accomplish.

Thx
TS

[TakuSkan]

Re: Encspot reporting Lame VBR, not ABR?

[infile] [outfile]

I'm wondering about those items too. I can't find much about them, but it seems they aren't command line switches. Are they necessory? Or do they just suggest that they can be replaced with specific filenames, and left out when transcoding a group of existing files?

TS

[Spoon]

Re: Encspot reporting Lame VBR, not ABR?

They are required to supply the filename to lame.

'--strictly-enforce-ISO'

This would make a difference, you can set this option in the advanced settings of normal lame.

[TakuSkan]

Re: Encspot reporting Lame VBR, not ABR?

'--strictly-enforce-ISO'

This would make a difference, you can set this option in the advanced settings of normal lame.

What does this switch accomplish Spoon?

So I guess the command line options above will accomplish what I'm aiming at... yes?

[Spoon]

Re: Encspot reporting Lame VBR, not ABR?

Constrains lame when it writes mp3 files, to fit the iso standard.

[TakuSkan]

Re: Encspot reporting Lame VBR, not ABR?

Constrains lame when it writes mp3 files, to fit the iso standard.

Okay... I read a little bit about that here and here.

So reviewing my command line:

[infile] [outfile] --preset 128 --strictly-enforce-ISO --noreplaygain

[infile] [outfile]
dbpoweramp components for LAME file naming.

--preset 128
Valid LAME switch I've been using to encode ABR 128 files.

--strictly-enforce-ISO
LAME switch to force compliance to ISO file system standards.

--noreplaygain
LAME switch to block copying replaygain values when transcoding.

Sorry about my anal repetativeness here. It's the best method I've come up to deal with my ADD and dislexia. Things seem to be working pretty well now.

ThxAgn
TS